All posts for the month August, 2014

Go to the grocery store! We both know that you’ve been meaning to go all week anyway. Observe the other shoppers. What are they buying? Is there anything weird going on? What are you buying? Find the story there.

Pull a Nevelle Longbottom and write about a character that forgot something but can’t remember what he forgot. How does your character know that something has been forgotten? Does trying to remember this forgotten thing lead to remembering other things? Where can trying to remember lead your character?

Today’s call for submission is from Raleigh Review! In the guidelines they mention that there is a small fee to submit online but not how much that fee actually is. I know that small for some of us isn’t small of others, but it is definitely worth checking out. The dead line for poetry, flash fiction, and short fiction is October 31st. The difference between flash fiction and short fiction is listed in the guidelines, which can be found at this link: https://tellitslant.com/home/journal_details/24 Good luck BTs!

Write a scene in the point of view of your character’s best friend. Does this character think of your character in the same way? How involved are they in each other’s lives. Are they truly the closest of friends that share everything? Or do these characters hide everything from the rest of the world? Are they best friends by default because they are one another’s only friend?

A friend lent me Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age! He starts the book with a twelve page description of everything that epitomized The Jazz Age. The people, their habits, the fashion, the laws, the music, all of it was touched on in these first few pages. So today’s prompt is to define a generation of your choosing. Doing one that you’ve lived through will certainly help you get the facts right. Think of it like having an insider’s perspective. If you haven’t lived through any “Ages” make one up that suits your fancy. Maybe take inspiration from a musical genre to name it as well like The Hair Band Age. If you don’t want to do a generation you lived though make one up or look into one that interests you more.

Write about a tiny step your character took in a personal rebellion. Maybe your character hates the boss and steals his pens to feel a tiny victory. Or maybe your character gets a tattoo secretly to rebel against unfair parenting. Those are probably a little boring but I’m sure that there are ways that you could make them interesting. The threat of getting caught for instance if written well enough will make the reader think that this pen heist is actually the most dangerous thing your character has ever done.

So I finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy last night! I really liked how Drax didn’t understand certain things. In honor of his in ability to grasp concepts, write a scene that involves misunderstandings or miscommunications. “Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast I would catch it.” That was one of my favorite lines in the movie! See if the misunderstand can lead to some funny one-liners of your own.

Throw a party for your characters. If you need ideas on decorations to describe, food that would be served, or even what kind of party it would be hit up Pinterest. I’ve planned like three different parties looking at different DIY projects on there. What happens at this party? How many people showed up? Is your character sitting sad and alone at a hugely over done party?

So I’ve found another picture that could easily inspire a character. She is Queen of the Butterflies! So that is the most obvious story that can come out of this picture other than she is a fashion model put in a dress for someone to take a picture. Create a more unique character based off this awesome fashion photo. Perhaps she has the ability to bring paper creatures to life and has brought these butterflies with her to make a grand entrance somewhere. Maybe she can manipulate paper in general not just paper animals and her dress is actually made of paper that she has willed to that shape around her body, very Elsa from Frozen but with paper instead of ice.

Write about the different wedding traditions for a culture that you know about or a made up culture. How do their traditions vary from those of weddings that we see in movies and on television? Where do the traditions come from? How have they evolved over time? If they’ve changed a lot how did they start out?